VEGETABLE PRODUCTS IN NEW ZEALAND. (From Thomson's Story of New Zealand.)

Otago Witness, Issue 482, 23 February 1861, Page 6

VEGETABLE PRODUCTS IN NEW ZEALAND. (From Thomson's Story of New Zealand.)

Indescribable is the charm of New Zealand forests fpr the lovers of Nature. ' There generations of noble, trees are seen decaying, and fresh generations rising up around the mosscovered trunks of fallen patriarchs. T,fae profound silence which reigns in these r«gionß produces a pleasing gloom pn the mind, and the, scene displays better lhaa the most classic architecture the grandeur of repose. Mo sound is. heapd mve the falling of trees, or the parrots' shrill screech, as birds which enliven the outskirts of forests are mute in the interior. Xround tlie graT^f.g^j^iUefterations of trees the uvmg generajMft are sigi J#ed with gales (iwe^*»rfcr^) ; ijßxpv(^w^th,aciirlet flowers, ana the lumu, (QtFPwWf&i ?HSP r^* ll * Bl fM^ possesses a inelanchAiy.Dea^ity and an indescribable grandeur."/ ;F^" ; 6ir^ie^ t Pin«»., ,rec,all to the settler^s eye^e^Wel'tiseei -^n Engt^pd, and singular td 'relate, unlike their congeners,.

jthe majority of them grow intermixed with other trees. The celebrated anfl beautiful Kauri (Dammara Australis) is the only Pine bearing a cone, and the male and female cones are found, on the same tree. Travellers talk of the solitude of the forests, hut there is society in trees which men miss on immense plains ; it is on the prairie alone ; thjat the traveller has a sensation 6t loneliness, 4eels that he is in the-w<>rla and* .does not belong to it, that he is a soKt*^,wanderer pn a vast ocearrless desert withpSt jlandmarka. Gn the coast plains in tie North Island, Ferns and Flax pjants supply the place ot Grasses. The sight of an imlnense district .covered with .short Fern -fills the muidrwkh. ,an idea of sterility ; while tbe long .Grass .covering the Middle Island plains and parts of the ulterior of the North "Island, looks like ,bay. Th^re ate $byr lowering plants in N'pw Zealand. Great Britain contains .upwarcls.of 1400, and New Zealand possesses scarcely 735. To for this want,' some of JtfeV Zealand's flowers are very beautiful ; and the starry Clematis creeping from tree to tr.ee, antl hanging in festoons from the branches" makesj in certain seasons, her wild forests "blossom like th,e Rose " " """"' Travellers m one part of New geaj^nd be? come only partially acquainted with the w,hple FJoxa. The magnificent Kauri Pine -is timjied iuitp growth to the country purrpun&ng,,*^ to jthe nqrth of Auckland, aftbougbi a ifew'^ray trees are found ove,r Kawhia, aj^d fliers °£ Kauri gum have Jbejen dug out .of ? tfye $£jrth jin, the Middle Isand. Formerly Kauri forests covered the land n> the neighjbourJhQQd pjf Auckland, and no reasonable explanation has been given why new generations x of Irees have not risen up to supply their pluses. T^ie j*u_riri (Vites littoralisj, and the Pohiitukaua, ,gr&f best in .the warm north, 'while the Rjj#& Totara (Podpcarpjts s r pic<xia », #£iri CJPo^puorpn? sp. t J ajid Ra,t.a (Jftetrq&rf&osxofnisfy), flourish in, the southern par^s ,of the potipy. The Pohutukaua is rarely seen away fto,ty r se sea c,oask or the margins of Jakes which wgre, perhaps, /orderly once on $>c sss, .CQa#. JO^f PaJtm'tree {Arecp, js#pidfl\ grows ni Nevr Zf#? land, tth.e most southern r^re^ejn^iv^fjhe Ja the Kew Gardens a^e to be seejj f evsrftl Ne.W Zealand plants, q^refully tjended. $£ Xram rieljU&s, that a Jfeiv Zeiajajn^r fe#g}Ms contemptuously on seeing a dwarfed FJax pl%s£ nj a flower-pot at Liverpool ; a#d JJew Z;e%land. {settlors, on visiting Kew Gardens, #£$' thaj th,e New Zeajand plants vegetating t^sne, although h,?autiful, exhibit to the untrayejje'4 hut a faint spijthjance of the beauty flnd gr^v deuf pf the sanje plants as they grpw jn t£e}? luxuriant native cl^imat€ at tlte antipodes,. Frpm the Flora of the cauntry, the abbuigines formerly supplied many of their want* Fern root furnished them with much food ; twelve kinds of fungi, almost all the seaweeds, and many forest fruits were occasionally eaten, while epicures gloated over the tender shoot* of the solitary Palm. From the poisoooa» Tutu berries (Coriaria sarmc7ifosa) YJIY Jl grafeiol and not intoxicating drink was expressed'; from six plants a dark dye was exfcracied,jmd others were ce)ebrated for medicinal virtues. Ouf of the large trunks of the Totara an# Kauri Pines canoes were scooped, and the tough Ti tree furnished paddles and spear&i The Flax plant was to the New Zealaadewi what the Cocoa-nut tree is to the Hindoos $ it was used for building and thatching huts, for sails, neta, fishing-tackle, plates, rapes, baskets, piedicine, and for tying up anything requiring to be kept together. From the Flaat flowers a honey drink was extracted, and fronj the roots of the Jeav.es an edible gam ; aandalj wcjv niade out of Flax by the natives living in the Middle Island ; and Flax, .differently pre,. pared, furnished various matSt and articles .of clothing, some being as coarse as straw mats^ while others rivalled the shawls of Castagaase ia eoftn^sg. Already settlers draw from the Flofca at New Zealand several valuable articles. ' T|io ' Kauri and Totara Pines in size excel, aß<| in durability equal, Baltic Pine for houSea ta^L ship-building One Totara tree,^near Afearqa, me*isured thirty-seven feet in circumfereneei Kauri trees are used for ships' raaste, being often ninety feet long, without a branch, aha the lai^ge Kauri trees have oftea a girth' of 40 feet. There are several admirable woods for fencing, and barks suitable for tanning. The Pauriri, which belongs to the sanag hataaieal order as the Teak, rivals English Oak m hardness, grows twenty feet without a branch, and has a girth of twenty ieet. Valuable and beautiful furniture planks are sa.wn fron* the Rimu, Kakikatea, or VVhite Pine, (Daqi-ytUytSi excslsum\^Matai, Mairi, and Manuka (Leptvqr permum wopariuni). A.t the Great Exhij»tifts , Qf ISSI, T^p Nui, a New geatagder, yim awarded * pri?e for specjmeps «f \f o^ obtaine4 from his native land> Cppk Qbt{^§4 for his crew several usefiil artigles, a^ Sir Joseph Banks discovered Jn the forest %f finest fruit, the Kiekje (Frtycinttik j&tyiJisii). English settlera'find native grass fettont flocks and herds, and London merchant* b&u* realised .£BO a tou for Kauri gu^i. X4ds curious substance h.a« no commercial valua when fresh, and like gum copal, it is found buried in the earth on the site of ancient forests. Fresh gum, only found in modem Kauri forests, has a milky colour, and, Kke amber, turns yellow and traijspa - rent Ycjth age. Some obscurity hangs over the use is put to in the commercial wprld ; in, England it is said to be \jsed: for Cftjipp, candles, and paper ; and, in the IJnitett^a^ as a substitute for gum, eppaj jn. varxiisfe, WhAT-BhITIBH VOLTJNTSRBS BAVI DONB.— Mr. Henry Berkeley, in his speech In Committee on the Fortifications and. Works Resolutions, said :—": — " He found the report (on "the. Natjon/il Defences) a disiiajcagement of the volunteer forces. (No, no!) Hoa.membqw said ' no'— he would qualify his ohHervations» then, and say that the volunteer force yrna 4 dajnned with faint praise.' (Hfftr, It wqs said tha,t this volunteer force was l un,able tp meet the regular soldiers ofp^hjr-cpuiir tries in the fiqld. J(Je denied tha^ agsertipu point blank, and maintained that prec^den^ was in his. favour. Ahnost all great military actions, h^ad heen dpne hy. raw recruits *n^ v^rlunteers. Who turned a veteran axmyj^putpf America ? Raw levies «nd vojunteerp. ; }^\m Raptured a royal array, with Burgoynjt ajt W head of it 1 Raw levies, and; vp(uniss^. (Hear, hear.) The Puke of W?Jlingtqn s^op^ the head of a splendid army of y^te^na fijb the time Napoleon, was.scut tp.^b^.; them, picked men, were sgn£ to America. £x£ cut to pieces by raw levies apd yo^iptfl^fa. The I>uke of Wellington stood op Waterloo \?ith an army of raw Vyi^f aqs ijfr lunteprs. (No, np!) WJ^at he s^ matter, of history ?~many t of \l|e men. not, hfufh ilk fir^d hall cartridge! (Hear, ' Jiieai") ,^|^ had e^punt^r«e4 &VJ^r 9f Austria or $w^rW ? Wfe c vo)»njt^f« ,and ravt recr^ And « gpt^rf WHW*>>Y W^9 afl4ivp^a£e«rsj jmef.anft. c^f^ ftftf vp^ntee? j[orc^ w,quM he flna|)^ ; tolfi»J\l i^injgHl^^J^^pad^r.^ft^^^O^S^W ireyXecw sxr^6ißt«r*, « isw little ppnseQaedoe'lov atA otop*tito*le-,"«T a&BgMkt Jttiijfitt&jf mm* W Sii'/o «*f*Up»twn, f>l; tfe« .^iittoattiJto. a|t!p«^. Sams ; wUh(^^#j V^f^^pji^/ &tkd s»fe m they ace powerful^' 'Bw r C£wC<wiQUfy -^.51 '

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